Another in our continuing series that endeavors to teach cosmetic chemists how to look at a product label and see what they can determine about the cosmetic ingredients used in the formula.

In this post we will look at Pantene Pro-V Brunette Expressions Daily Color Enhancing Shampoo. Pantene is one of the most successful and popular shampoo products on the market and for good reason, it’s a great formula. Let’s see what in it.

LOI – Brunette Expression

Water, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Ammonium Xylenesulfonate, Dimethicone, Laureth-4, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Polyquaternium-6, Trihydroxystearin, Mica, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 6, Acid Green 25, Red 4, Benzoic Acid, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone.

1% line

The trick to figuring out the primary functional ingredients in a formula is to find the 1% line. This is the line at which the concentration of ingredients is at 1% or lower. In this particular formula, the 1% line is likely after the Dimethicone. In previous versions of this shampoo formula the shampoo patent calls for 1% dimethicone. For most mainstream products fragrance will not be included at a level above 1%.

What the ingredients do

Now that we know the 1% line, here’s what the ingredients do.

Cleansing ingredients
These are the ingredients that make the hair clean.  P&G has optimized their surfactant blend to create an incredibly creamy and rich lather.  One of the best systems in the business (as far as acceptance by consumers goes).

• Water
• Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate
• Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
• Ammonium Xylenesulfonate – Secondary surfactant to reduce irritation
• Laureth-4 – Could be to improve creaminess & reduce irritation

Conditioning ingredients
These ingredients are left behind on the hair and give it a conditioned feeling.  While it is not advertised as such this is actually a 2-in-1 shampoo formula (shampoo+conditioner)

• Dimethicone – Add conditioning
• Polyquaternium-6 – Cationic conditioner
• Panthenol – Moisturizer though could just be a claims ingredient
• Panthenyl Ethyl Ether – Supposed moisturizer but I’m skeptical
• Trihydroxystearin – Emollient to affect foam feel

Colorants
Since this is supposed to be for brunettes they wanted to give it a shimmering brown color.  These colors might stain the hair a bit but they are primarily used to make an otherwise white shampoo look brown.

• Mica – White shimmering color
• Iron Oxides – Brown coloring
• Titanium Dioxide – White shimmering color
• Yellow 6
• Acid Green 25
• Red 4
• Ferric Ferrocyanide

Preservative system
They certainly have a more complicated preservative system and seem to have gone out of their way to avoid Formaldehyde donors like DMDM Hydanotin and Parabens.  I wonder what the reason behind this was.  Most likely to make it a more global formula because those preservatives are not acceptable everywhere.

• Disodium EDTA – Chealating agent helps preservative
• Methylchloroisothiazolinone
• Methylisothiazolinone
• Benzoic Acid
• Sodium Citrate
• Sodium Benzoate

Odor

• Fragrance – Signature fragrance of Pantene

Formula adjusters

• Sodium Chloride – Thickener
• Citric Acid – pH adjuster to get formula ~pH 5.5

As I said the Pantene formula is one of the best in class in the market and it’s an excellent one for formulators to try and emulate and beat.  It performs very well in blinded consumer testing.  Incidentally, while this formula is marketed as for brunettes there is not much difference between this SKU and the white normal version.  A brunette could use either formula without noticing a performance difference.

On a number of occasions we’ve mentioned the use of vitamins in cosmetic products.  The typical spin is that vitamins are put in cosmetics to make label claims because they don’t really have much effect but they do sell products.  This is true in the vast majority of cases.

But perhaps this is a bit unfair.

In this post, I’m going to take a different spin and explain the vitamins that are used in cosmetics and whether they have any (even if it’s small) effect.

Vitamins in cosmetics

Since vitamins are such an appealing ingredient to cosmetic consumers and marketers, you’re going to find many different kinds in products ranging from skin lotions, hair products, make-up and even toothpaste. The primary vitamins used by cosmetic formulators includes vitamin A, B, C, D, E, F, and K. We’ll go over each of them roughly in order of prevalence in cosmetics.

Vitamin A

What it is- This popular vitamin in cosmetics belongs to a large class of compounds called retinoids.  It’s precursor is called beta-carotene and is found in cosmetics as retinol, retinyl esters, retinoic acid, retinyl palmitate, acitretin and adapalene.

Why use it- It has a variety of effects in the body such as decreasing inflammation, helping the immune system and regulating growth of epidermal cells.  It has been shown to reverse photoaging and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.  It also works as a treatment for acne and may have skin lightening effects.

Does it work- Of all the vitamins found in cosmetics, use of Vitamin A is most supported by the evidence.  In fact, it is so effective for anti-aging that in the US it is considered a drug that requires a doctor’s prescription.  But this ingredient is difficult to formulate with because it is inherently unstable when exposed to light.  More stable forms are less effective.  And there is no evidence that Vitamin A will have any effect on your hair.

Vitamin E

What it is- Vitamin E is a naturally occurring antioxidant which is why it is frequently added to cosmetics and skin care products.

Why use it- It is considered to be a protector ingredient since it is a major free-radical scavenger.  Free radicals are very damaging to the skin tissue.   Topical application of vitamin E is said to result in skin smoothening, moisturizing, prevention of pre-mature skin-aging, and suppression of UV-induced erythema.

Does it work-  Those all seem like good things benefits however, for skin smoothening or moisturization Vitamin E is not going to compare to traditional skin ingredients like petrolatum or mineral oil.  And for other unseen benefits?  This study which examined whether UV induced damage could be helped by topical Vitamin E treatment concluded that it could not.  And this study looked at the effect of topically applied vitamin E on scar tissue resulted in no observable benefit.  But other researchers have reported effects so a benefit is possible if not yet proven.  There is no evidence that using Vitamin E in hair will have any significant beneficial effect.

Vitamin C

What it is- This is a biologically active form of ascorbic acid.  In the body, Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant which neutralizes damaging free radicals.  Commonly used versions of this compound are ascorbyl palmitate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate and trisodium ascorbyl phosphate.

Why use it- This ingredient is claimed to work to reverse UV damage, skin aging, treat acne and have skin lightening effects.

Does it work- It is extremely difficult to formulate Vitamin C into a product and have it remain active.  It is just not very stable.  However, a 5% solution of sodium ascorbyl phosphate was demonstrated to be effective against acne.  This study of topical application of Vitamin C and its derivatives showed that while vitamin C had an effect, it’s derivatives did not.  So, there might be some effect if you use high levels of vitamin C and can keep it stable (those are big ‘ifs’).  In hair care, Vitamin C will have no effect.

Vitamin B

What it is-  There are a number of Vitamin B derivatives that make their way into cosmetics.  These include Panthenol (vitamin B5), Niacin and Biotin.  Vitamin B is a coenzyme of vitamin A and helps in cell metabolism.

Why use it- Panthenol functions as a humectant so it can provide some moisturizing effect in skin products.  It also works as a humectant for hair and there is some evidence that it can have a thickening/strengthening effect on hair.  Niacin is used because it is believed to have anti-aging effects like wrinkle reduction and skin elasticity improvements on skin.   Biotin is used to treat brittle nails.

Does it work- Panthenol is such a ubiquitous ingredient in hair care products that it is almost a requirement for a hair care formulation.  The scientists at P&G are convinced that it works and it is a featured ingredient in their Pantene hair care line.  I personally didn’t notice much difference in formulas with and without Panthenol but perhaps I was biased.  Niacin has some slight effect in skin care as evidenced by this review paper.  But it’s not hugely effective.

Vitamin D

What it is- This is a steroid-derived hormone that impacts the calcium levels in the body.  It also is produced in the skin upon exposure to UV light.

Why use it- Vitamin D may be a useful addition to a sunscreen product and it is useful in the treatment of psoriasis.

Does it work- There is some evidence that Vitamin D is effective as a treatment for psoriasis.  But Vitamin D doesn’t have any notable antiaging effects and in hair care it is not effective to do much of anything.

Vitamin F

What it is- These are essential fatty acids which include ingredients like linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic acids.  Not vitamins per se but since they are fatty acids that your body doesn’t create, they have gotten the moniker Vitamin F.

Why use it- These ingredients are essential for the maintenance of the skin barrier function.

Does it work- Application of pure linoleic acid to skin is an irritant so you don’t want to add it directly.  In truth, the standard moisturizing ingredient have a more significant impact on skin than Vitamin F so they will not provide much additional benefit.

Vitamin K

What it is- This is a fat soluble vitamin that is synthesized by the bacteria in the gut.  It is important for blood clotting.

Why use it-  Some people believe that Vitamin K can be beneficial reducing the appearance of under eye circles and spider veins.

Does it work- There is no evidence that it works.

As long as consumers believe that vitamins are healthy, they are going to continue to be put into cosmetic products whether they have any effect or not.  As a cosmetic formulator, it will help you to at least know the theoretical reasons that these ingredients might be useful in your formulas.  Who knows, perhaps some future research will show that the effects are significant.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cosmeceuticals

I saw this interesting review study about cosmeceuticals. The article goes through and looks at the best scientific evidence available for various cosmeceuticals including…

1. Retinoids
2. Kinetin
3. Niacinamide
4. Soy phospholipids
5. Green tea polyphenols

Their conclusion, all 5 of these cosmeceuticals fall short of the proof standards for efficacy as proposed by Albert Kligman (<–famous skin researcher). Of the 5 examined, only Niacinamide was closest to meeting the Kligman standards.  But that’s not what I wanted to discuss.  More important is how cosmeceuticals should be vetted for figuring out whether they are worth including in your formulations or not.

Kligman standards

Albert Kligman was one of the most famous skin researchers in the United States. He was also the guy who coined the term ‘cosmeceuticals’.

He also posed three questions that you should ask about any cosmeceutical product that claims a beneficial physiological effect.

Skin penetration

1. Can the active ingredient penetrate the stratum corneum (SC) and be delivered in a high enough concentration to have an effect on the target in skin?

If enough of the ingredient can’t penetrate the skin then it is not going to have an effect. This is where most cosmeceutical ingredients fail.

Theoretical effect

2. Does the active ingredient have a known specific biochemical mechansim of action in human skin cells?

It’s not enough to penetrate the skin. There has to be some specific known target that the cosmeceutical is going to affect. If not, the ingredient probably won’t have a noticeable effect. Things like fruit stem cells or natural extracts fail in this area.

Clinical proof

3. Are there peer reviewed, double-blind, placebo-controlled, statistically siginficant clincial trials to substantiate efficacy claims?

And here is where almost all cosmeceutical ingredients fail. Practically no one publishes or even conducts studies of this nature and magnitude. It is probably too expensive or too risky (in case the ingredient doesn’t work) to do so.

Cosmetic chemists and cosmeceuticals

As a cosmetic chemist, you need to remain skeptical of efficacy claims of ingredients and require your suppliers to have answers to each of these three questions. They probably won’t have the answers you seek but if you start asking, they may start conducting the studies.

Another installment of our Dissecting the Label series. In these blog posts we dissect a lable and discuss what each of the ingredients do in the formula and ponder why they are added. Last time we did a skin self-tanning prodcut. This time we’ll look at a hair conditioner. Organix Conditioner

Organix LOI

Here’s the ingredient list.

Aqua/Water/Eau (Water), Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Parfum, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Glyceryl Stearate, Glycerin, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil (Jojoba), DMDM Hydantoin, Panthenol, Silk Amino Acids, Cocos Nucifera Extract (Coconut), Albumen, Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut), Hydrolyzed Milk Protein, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E) (Vitamin E), Tetrasodium EDTA, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Coumarin

The 1% Line

Our first challenge as a cosmetic chemist is to figure out where the 1% line might be. This can give us a clue as to what are the most important ingredients in the formula.

In this product there are two likely spots for the 1% line. Either right after the Behentrimonium Methosulfate or after the Dimethicone. My gut belief is that it is right after the Dimethicone. They certainly aren’t adding the jojoba oil at levels above 1%. I’m just a little surprised that the Parfum (Fragrance) would be used at a level above 1% but Cetearyl Alcohol most likely is so that’s what I’m going with.

You can see that figuring out this 1% line is not a precise science.

What the ingredients do

As always, we’ll group common ingredients and describe what they do.

Emulsion ingredients

These ingredients make the formula look and feel appealing.

Water – The solvent. Probably makes up 85-90% of this formula.
Cetyl Alcohol – Opacifying / emulsifier
Cetearyl Alcohol – Opacifying / emulsifier
Cetearyl Glucoside – Emulsifier
Glyceryl Stearate – Emulsifier

Conditioning ingredients

These are the things that make the formula work.  It’s why people use the product.

Behentrimonium Methosulfate – Hair conditioning. For anti-static, detangling. Makes hair easier to comb.
Dimethicone – Hair conditioning for shine & slickness
Cyclopentasiloxane – Hair conditioning
Glycerin – Some moisturizing effect but likely rinses down the drain.

Claims & Puffery ingredients

These ingredients are added to make the product sound more appealing.  If these raw materials were left out of the formula, it is unlikely that anyone would notice a difference in performance.

Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil
Panthenol – Some evidence this could effect hair but I remain skeptical
Silk Amino Acids
Cocos Nucifera Extract (Coconut)
Albumen
Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut)
Hydrolyzed Milk Protein
Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E)
Coumarin

Preservative system

Since microbes can grow in the environment created in this formula, preservatives have to be added to ensure they don’t.  This conditioner uses two classic preservatives that have a broad spectrum of organisms that they will kill.

DMDM Hydantoin – Preservative
Tetrasodium EDTA – Helps to losen cell walls & make preservatives more effective.
Methylchloroisothiazolinone – Preservative
Methylisothiazolinone – Preservative

Fragrance

Parfum – In US this should be labeled Fragrance.

This is a pretty standard conditioner formula with lots of claims ingredients added to give the Marketing department something to talk about. Using both silicones and a cationic surfactant is a good idea as it provides a nice effect that the ingredients separately can’t achieve. Overall, a nice formula.

We received this question here at Chemists Corner central and thought it would be a good one to write an article about.

“Why do the raw material suppliers recommend the combination of presevatives versus using them alone…..for ex: why do the manufacturers recommend a combination of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate rather than using them individually….

Why you put preservatives in cosmetics

With all the bad press about chemicals used to preserve cosmetics you might wonder why companies don’t just stop using preservatives.  Well, the reason is that cosmetics that contain preservatives are safer than ones that don’t contain preservatives.  This is because disease-causing microorganisms can multiply at exponential rates in cosmetics if there are no chemicals in there to stop them.

And if the consumer is putting a dollop of microbe laden skin lotion on their body, they are bound to contract a disease.  It is just not smart to use unpreserved cosmetics.

The other reason to include preservatives is that when microbes grow in your cosmetic product they can produce foul smelling odors and strange colors.  Consumers just aesthetically do not want to use bacterial contaminated products.  It’s a bit like the same reason people don’t want to eat moldy bread.

What do preservatives do

Cosmetic formulas have all the key factors needed for microbial growth including water, nutrients, and energy.  At a suitable pH and temperature, it will be like a microbial cocktail party.  Preservatives stop growth by killing cells and spores (usually by disrupting cell membranes) or by making the system hostile to growth.  See this article for more about cosmetic preservatives.

Why you need multiple preservatives

So that brings us to the question that started it all, why use multiple cosmetic preservatives?  Basically it’s because some single preservatives do not kill a big enough range of microorganisms.  As a cosmetic formulator you need to ensure that your preservative system will kill any bacterial, mold, or fungi that the formula might encounter.  Since you don’t know what will be encountered you have to plan for every possibility (or at least as many as you can).

There are some preservatives that are able to kill a wide range of microbes (e.g. Alcohol, Parabens, Formaldehyde donors).  That is why these ingredients are so popular with formulators.  Other ingredients like Sodium Benzoate or Potassium Sorbate are only effective against certain types of microbes.  They are more active against yeasts and molds but have a lower activity against bacteria.    One way to compensate for the ineffectiveness of one compound is to include another compound that has the ability to kill other organisms.  By combining preservatives, you increase the spectrum of microbes that your formula can withstand.

Of course, if you used parabens and formaldehyde donors you could be more confident in the effectiveness of your preservative system.  However, for marketing reasons these compounds must be avoided.  It makes your job as a cosmetic formulator a bit harder.

I am health. I am wealth. I am stealth. Ok, maybe not stealth, but it rhymed so well… I am ORGANIC. At least this is where my mind goes when I think of Organic. You make think it odd, that I did not mention soil conditions, synthetic pesticides and such, but really, when it comes down to it, “organic” speaks to those that live a healthy lifestyle, have the money to maintain that lifestyle and have the time, energy and savviness to continually educate themselves and develop somewhat of a personal conviction, for organic to really matter.

In all actuality, Organic refers to specific agricultural conditions that are void of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Certified Organic standards for the cosmetics industry usually falls under a 70% organic formulation excluding water and/or NOP Organic with is 95% Organic and the remaining 5% natural. So, what does this mean for us as chemists…time, money, and a customer.

Cutting formulation time

Regardless of what the Rolling Stones say, time is not on our side, during the day to day grind of research, testing, formulating and benching. I love it when marketing says, “Oh just change the actives to something that works with your current base,” because it saves so much time! Unfortunately, we have limited availability and activity in our Certified Organic ingredient options. I have found emulsifiers the most difficult to source. Hopefully I can save time by sharing my five finds for organic emulsifiers:

• Hydredsia O – (Botaneco) Oleosome cold-process, mild emulsifier derived from Safflowers
• Andean Quillaja Organic – (Desert King) Surfactant/Emulsifier derived from the Andean Quilliaja Tree
• Berry Saponin Concentrate – (Ecological Surfactants) Surfactant/emulsifier derived from Nepal Soap Berries
• Prodhycreme CE and Prodhybase GLN – (Laboratoires Prod’Hgy) A self-emulsifying base multiple vegetal sources
• Organic Emulsifying Wax – (Koster Keunen) Blend of organic waxes and lecithin multiple organic sources

I have found Hydresia O, the most innovative and interesting of the Certified Organic emulsifier options due to cold process formulations and multi-functional benefits of encapsulating oil soluble actives and essential oils with a delayed release effect on the skin. The oleosomes have also shown an incredible SPF boosting effect. For more info visit the Botaneco website.

Importance of packaging

A good emulsifier helps stabilize a formula, but packaging aids in protecting often unstable oils and extracts. For example, while strolling along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, I came across an Organic Skin Care store that claims to meet SOIL Association Certification (one of the most stringent organic certifications). I popped in, looked at the labels and experienced the oxidized formulations first hand. Needless to say, I felt sorry for the customers that succumbed to the organic hype only to purchase high end oxidized formulations, in glam packaging (that did not protect their product), leaving them somewhat ineffective.

Make sure Marketing and Product Development know the special packaging needs of your formula, since the emulsions and plant extracts tend to be more sensitive to degrade than traditional synthetic systems…very important!

Cost of natural formulating

Hopefully, I have saved some of you a little time in your natural formulation efforts. Unfortunately, I am not sure I can save you money as well. Let’s face it. Organic products cost at least two times that of none Organic. Marketing, Purchasing and the customer should have this knowledge, if not then go ahead and educate them. The time and money the farmers and manufactures spend to certify Organic costs extra money that is so generously passed on to us and our consumer.

Certified organic formulations

Lastly, I am not sure how many of you will have the opportunity to formulate a Certified Organic Product. Even though the market has seen tremendous growth in the past 5-10 year, the overall demand pales in comparison to affordable and highly scientific/non-organic effective options. Customers want results and Organic simply does not possess the ingredient repertoire that non-organic and synthetic categories do. So, until new technology comes forward touting innovative technology and Organic standards, the market has limited growth, to fit the pocket book of most consumers.

Overall, the organic trend has become a movement to build awareness for an optimum lifestyle of health. Health takes time and money. Hopefully, I saved you a bit of time trying to serve your organic customer’s needs. My next article will cover Natural formulations and some interesting ingredients I have found useful.

~Beakers up!

Dandizette Beaute
Dandizette Beaute is a cosmetic formulator dedicated to creating natural and organic formulations that make sense and work. She’s also the latest author on Chemsits Corner.

Living in America, I was raised to wash my hair every day. In 2005, while developing a new shampoo and conditioner formula for the mass market brand, I took it to an extreme and actually believe that I had the “most shampooed head in America.” That year I lathered my locks over 1500 times.

It was a little surprising to me to learn that daily shampooing was not the norm when shampoos first came out. This shampoo story by NPR (I’m a proud card carrying member by the way) tells how shampoos used to be a once a month activity. In 1908, an article in the New Yorker suggested people could safely shampoo every two weeks. Over time marketers convinced consumers in America that daily shampooing was best. It was pushed really hard in the 70′s and became the norm by the 80′s. Nice going P&G.

Shampooing every day

Well, it turns out that shampooing every day is more than people actually need. Dermatologists recommend washing your hair 2 or 3 times a week. I don’t know how they come to that number as it’s really just a matter of personal preference as to how often you shampoo. There are no health reasons to wash you hair more than once a month. However, most people are not going to like the way once a month shampooing feels.

The cosmetic industry would rather people wash their hair more frequently because that means more product will be sold. However, from a sustainability standpoint this is excessive. I don’t see how companies dedicated to producing sustainable products can justify encouraging consumers to continue to use this amount of product. Will we see big companies start pushing for people to use less product? Maybe.

Sustainability Strategy

As a cosmetic formulator, you might consider trying to make formulas that can create effects that last longer. This could ultimately reduce the amount of product used and support the sustainability goals of your company. At the very least, this could create an interesting marketing position for a new company. Are you looking for your Purple Cow positioning? This could be it.

Yesterday, I wrote about what makes a good scientific study and how you can prevent fooling yourself. The key was to remain skeptical and create studies that are blinded.

Here is a video which shows just how one can be done. Granted this video is not about selecting a cosmetic ingredient level. However, it does illustrate the proper way to do a scientific study.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-drpViV5LSw

Here’s what they do.

1. Start with a hypothesis. In the video, the hypothesis is that people with different immune systems will be more attractive to each other than people with similar immune systems.

2. Figure out a way to test the hypothesis. There are a number of implications of this hypothesis that can be tested. In this video, they look at the relationship between natural odor preference and genetic makeup.
In the video, the hypothesis is that a woman’s natural odor will be prefered by a man based on their mutual genetic composition. If the hypothesis is correct, the man should pick the woman who has the least common genetic immune system.

3. Do a blinded test. The evaluator is unaware of which sample is which so he is blinded and therefore, unbiased. Of course, this isn’t a perfectly blinded test because the evaluator does have some information about the study (like why he should pick a difference). A better study would have been to have evaluators that are completely unaware of the purpose of smelling the t-shirts.

However, in cosmetic formulating it’s rare that you could use unaware panelists to help in this way.

This study is a bit simplified and for real science you need to be more rigorous (e.g. have a lot more panelists) but overall, this type of study is a nice example of how you should create studies for evaluating new raw materials in your cosmetic formulas.

In yesterday’s post we talked about cosmetic claims ingredients and why they are used at low levels. In today’s post we’ll describe a process by which you can evaluate ingredients that might have some effectiveness.

How to not fool yourself

Everyone has things that they believe. Often these beliefs are not reached through rational means. You may have heard something from your mother when you were a child and you never questioned whether it was true or not. They don’t call them old-wives tales for nothing. You also might hold beliefs about things because you want them to be true. Many people want to believe that things that occur in nature are superior than those created from petroleum in the lab. But is it true? As a cosmetic chemist you are best served by focusing on what is actually true instead of what you want to be true.

So, how do you avoid fooling yourself about whether an ingredient should be used at a high level or not?  Try this approach.

Step 1 - Begin by being skeptical of any ingredient.  If you can’t prove that an ingredient should be in your formula or not, leave it out (or put it in at claims levels).  Forget about the proof given to you by raw material suppliers or what you’ve read in literature.  Begin with the assumption that the ingredient will not work in your formula.

Step 2 - Test the ingredient.  But don’t just stop there. If the story of an ingredient appeals to you, by all means test it. You can do a triangle test, a paired comparison, a simple with and without comparison, or any number of different types of product evaluation tests. Just be sure to begin them with the assumption that the ingredient will have no effect. Be genuinely surprised if it does. Also, be sure to do these tests in a blinded fashion and compare them to controls. Without these steps, the evaluations you do are subject to your own biases.

Step 3 – Repeat your test. Once you’ve tested an ingredient and are convinced that you notice a difference, give it to other people (ideally your consumers) and see if they can tell any difference. It does no good for you alone to sense differences. If your consumers can’t notice differences the ingredient may not be worth including.

Step 4 – Test different levels. If you continue to find differences noticed even by the consumers who are using your products, excellent.  You are on your way to a functional discovery.  The next step is to figure out the range of levels in which the ingredient works.  Try to double the level.  Do you get double the results?  Cut the level in half.  Do the effects drop?  If there really is an effect, you should notice a difference when you use different levels.

Step 5 – Remain skeptical.  Even after all your testing it is still possible that you could be wrong or you’ve somehow fooled yourself.  It is very difficult to discover something new so you need to always remain a little skeptical of your discoveries.  This is probably the most difficult of all the steps but it is critical.

As cosmetic chemists we should always strive to make the best products we can and to only include ingredients that actually show some demonstrable benefit. You will undoubtedly have to include non-functional ingredients for claims purposes but you should always know your formulas and what is really doing something.

Happy formulating!

One of the things that people find surprising when they first enter the cosmetic formulating business is that many of the feature ingredients have very little effect.  I distinctly remember the look on my colleague’s face when she first discovered that the expensive, salon-only brand of hair care products that she religiously spent extra money on used “puffery” ingredients to make the products sound more appealing.  A moment like this is something that nearly all cosmetic chemist and formulators will experience.

Claims Ingredients

We’ve previously talked about cosmetic claims ingredients.  Essentially, these are ingredients included in formulas to support the marketing story.  They are often natural sounding ingredients or a made-up scientific term that is supposed to connote superiority over standard products.  While they are not essential to the function of the product, they are essential to creating a product that sells.  Consumers would just rather buy a body wash that contains some natural moisturizer rather than a synthetic polymer.

Formulating with claims ingredients

So, what do formulators do?

They create the best working product that they can and then spike the formula with whatever ingredient will make a good marketing story.  Incidentally, the phrase “spike the formula” means…

to put enough of a material in the formula to be able to claim that it is in there without significantly affecting the price or stability of the product.

This means claims ingredients are put in formulas at 0.5%, 0.1%, or as low as 0.0001%.  As long as you legitimately add an ingredient to a formula, you can talk about it in your advertising and on your label.  Granted you have to stick to factual information, but if you add 0.0001% of an ingredient in your formula, it’s in there.  This means that any laboratory proven benefit of the ingredient probably won’t ever be realized in the formula.

Reasons for non-functional levels

There are a few reasons that cosmetic chemists do not put claims ingredients in formulas at high levels.

1. They are expensive.  These ingredients are so expensive that you can’t realistically make a mass market product that has a high level.  Consider an ingredient like Ribonucleic acid.  This ingredient can cost $90 a pound or more.  So, if you added it to your formula at a 1% level, you’ve added $0.90 per pound to the formula.  In an 8oz bottle of lotion, that is 45 cents per bottle just for this one ingredient.  Add to that the cost of the rest of the ingredients and the formula cost for your single bottle can get to over $3 per bottle.  Then add packaging costs, production costs, marketing, distribution costs and the price of your lotion with RNA is just too expensive to be competitive with mass market products.

So, it is highly unlikely that any mass market product will contain functional levels of these claims ingredients.

2. There is little evidence they work.  Some ingredients are known to have no functional effect but are included in formulas because they make compelling stories to consumers.  I’ll leave it to you to figure out which ingredients are like this.  But there are some ingredients that suppliers will bring to you with lots of studies demonstrating effectiveness.  Things like UV blockers for hair, collagen stimulators for skin, or anti-aging ingredient that are supposed to reverse aging.  Unfortunately, for most of these ingredients the studies that demonstrate effectiveness are poorly designed, not blinded, not tested against proper controls or done under unrealistic laboratory conditions.  There is little evidence that including ingredients like natural extracts, even at high levels, will lead to a formula to performs noticeably better.

This might sound cynical but I am certainly open to being shown to be wrong.  It simply requires a well designed double blind effectiveness study.  If an ingredient can be shown to provide superior results under these conditions, I’d happily recommend its use at higher levels.

3. Consumers don’t really notice.  Perhaps the most significant reason that ingredients like these are used at low levels is because almost no one notices if they are not.  It’s possible that you as the formulator will notice.  Over time, you should enhance your ability to differentiate between two formulas.  You should be highly sensitive to even minute differences.  But your consumer will not be trained as such.  Consumers barely notice the difference between formulas that are obviously different.  If your consumer doesn’t notice whether an ingredient is in the formula or not, it makes logical sense to reduce it to a low level.

Functional Levels?

When you learn that this is going on, it can be hard not to become cynical.  Indeed, many a cosmetic formulator becomes cynical about the technologies put into formulations.  However, I have always tried to refrain from being cynical.  Instead, I encourage all formulas to simply be skeptical of the feature ingredients used in products.  If there is some good evidence that you should use an ingredient at a high level, then you should do that.  However, you need to be certain that there is some noticeable benefit to your consumers.

Just because we want something to be true doesn’t mean it is true.

In tomorrow’s post, we’ll describe how you can ensure that you are not fooling yourself with your ingredient choices.